Sunetra Sarker will "never forget" the laughs she shared with Keith Barron before his sad death.
The 44-year-old actress starred alongside the legendary actor in ‘Casualty’ briefly and was devastated when she found out that he’d lost his battle with a short illness at the impressive age of 83 this week.
Taking to her Twitter account, she said: "So sad to hear of dear friend #KeithBarron passing away. One of a kind. Guaranteed laughter. Shall never forget those days. Old school (sic)"
And she wasn’t his only former co-star to take to the social networking site to pay her respects as his ‘Duty Free’ on-screen with Gwen Taylor admitted the news came as a huge "blow" to her.
She said: "I have just heard the news my old friend and colleague has died. It’s quite a blow.
"Keith was such a kind and lovely man and don’t think I’ve met anyone that would disagree.
"My thoughts and prayers go to his loving wife Mary and his son Jamie – whom meant so much to him."
Benidorm’s creator Derren Litten – who worked with Keith on the comedy in 2009 – added: "Terribly sad about the passing of dear Keith Barron. He was full of mischief and could make me howl laughing with the merest glance – and he knew it. RIP dear friend. (sic)"
The news that he’d passed away was confirmed by his agent in a statement today (15.11.17).
It read: "He had a long and varied career which included ‘The Nigel Barton Plays’ by Dennis Potter of which he was immensely proud, a Hollywood film ‘The Land That Time Forgot’, the television series ‘Take Me Home’, written by Tony Marchant and three series of ‘Duty Free’, the Yorkshire Television classic sitcom written by Eric Chappell in which he played David Pearce. He is survived by his wife Mary to whom he was married for 58 years and his son, Jamie, also an actor."
Keith’s best-known role was as David Pearce in ‘Duty Free’, which ran from 1984 until 1986, and his final TV appearance came last year, when he played Arthur Banks in 10 episodes of ‘DCI Banks’.
He also had roles in a string of other TV shows, including ‘Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)’, ‘The New Avengers’, ‘The Professionals’,’A Touch of Frost’, ‘Where the Heart Is’ and ‘Coronation Street’.
Sunetra Sarker pays tribute to Keith Barron
